Chops Beef Jerky is distributed byChops Snacks, Inc., and is it located in New Haven, Connecticut. It all started in the summer of 2013, when after a long day at the country farm in the Pacific Northwest, Dusty Jaquins became thoroughly disappointed with the flavorless, tough jerky at his local store. After experimenting with some jerky recipes, Dusty, with his 30+ years of experience in the food industry, teamed up with Aaron Jones and Luke Sellers, who officially launched the Chops Beef Jerky brand in 2013. Only USDA Choice & Select brisket cuts of beef sourced from American beef are used. Chops Beef Jerky not only claims to have an exceptionally tender texture, they guarantee to have the most tender jerky texture on the market today. Exciting changes are coming tentatively scheduled for June 2018 with a bag redesign, a snack sized bag, and the recipe lists will be reformulated to reduce the amount of sugar.

The beef brisket used here is guaranteed to be ethically raised, meaning free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. These cattle are not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to roam about. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Very Good (9/10) rating.

The sugar level is on the high side at 7 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. Our preference is 3 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. The salt level is borderline acceptable at 350mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky.

Taste Review

On my first bite of Chops – Red Chili Pepper Beef Brisket Jerky, I am greeted and overcome with a myriad of bold and delicious flavors. These flavors are of refined soy sauce, mild saltiness, moderately strong sweetness and light notes of garlic and black pepper. Also at a light level, the pineapple juice and ginger nicely comes through on the finish. These latter ingredients pair really well with the black pepper and add interesting layers of flavors to this great jerky.

I really appreciate the complexity of this flavor profile. Ultimately, all these flavors work well together while maintaining their own distinction. As I chew another strip, the flavor and texture seems to keep getting better and better. This jerky is highly addictive and I keep discovering more intricacies and nuances with every bite as the flavors keep exploding in my mouth.

Although, these strips are bursting with taste, the natural beef flavor is somewhat muted to a certain degree by such bold tasting flavors. This flavor is consistent with a brisket cut of beef, as it is known to absorb marinades very well.

Chops describe this flavor as the following:

“How about some heat? Created out of the sentiment from our jerky lovers that crave spicy flavors packed with heat, the Red Chili Pepper flavor of Chops Snacks’ beef jerky is game for even the most diehard of spice lovers”

On the heat scale, we’ve rated the spiciness at 2 out of 5. After consuming a couple of strips, we were getting a hot tingly with a little burning feeling in our mouths and tongues. This jerky is kind of reminiscent of a kicked up teriyaki flavor or a sweet and spicy flavor rather than simply being a spicy or a hot flavor. The spiciness builds up nicely and after a few strips, we were getting an interesting and decent kick.

These strips are medium in size and sliced thin. The texture is very soft and tender. This is amongst the moistest and most tender jerky strips we’ve reviewed to date. This jerky is sticky and handling these strips of jerky leave a slight oily residue on our fingers. The strips are cut against the grain instead of the more traditional with the grain. This style of cutting against the grain is supposed to make the strips more tender.

We’d highly recommend this flavor to fans of moist/soft and tender jerky or lovers of sweet and lightly or delayed spiciness, as the spicy feeling increases with each strip.

This Chops – Red Chili Pepper Beef Brisket Jerky is absolutely delicious on its own and would certainly be amazing chopped up and generously sprinkled over eggs or omelets, some waffles or crêpes, in a favorite sandwich, burger or grilled cheese, a Mac & Cheese or pasta, mashed potatoes or as a topping over a baked potato, salads, a delicious pizza, a great poutine or simply folded in a veggie dip to name just a few!

We were technically unanimous on this little treasure. Most of us agreed and felt this jerky truly deserves a definite and without a doubt 10/10 taste rating. Two very emphatic thumbs up from Paul and yours truly, Mark was closely behind at 9/10…

Bag Review

This plastic resealable bag has everything imprinted on the bag itself, both on the front and back, with no labels affixed.

A slogan printed on this bag is “Exceptionally Tender Beef Brisket”. Some facts printed on this bag are “All Natural”, “No Artificial Ingredients”, “Minimally Processed”, “9g Protein”, “80 Calories”, ”1g Total Fat”, and “Proudly Made in the United States of America”.

The only bag category missing is that the company web site is not provided. However, a QR Code is displayed, which links to their web site. A good blurb is printed on the back describing Chops Beef Jerky. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram social media handles are provided.